"Rome wasn't built in a day," Mayor Zamuxolo Peter says, pleading for constructive criticism to help solve the municipality's problems and defending Makana's current leadership.
"Rome wasn't built in a day," Mayor Zamuxolo Peter says, pleading for constructive criticism to help solve the municipality's problems and defending Makana's current leadership.
In a wide-ranging interview last week, the mayor spoke about public participation, good governance and crime, among many other topics.
But against the backdrop of a fourth successive disclaimer for Makana Municipality, it was criticism from the Auditor General about the municipality's leadership that loomed large.
"As a leader and as a human being… I must not be arrogant. When people are raising issues about your leadership you must go back to the mirror and look at what you are doing…," said Peter.
"We need to see what the challenges are, what the weaknesses and failures are… and see what needs to be done. What I am trying to say is, if people are constructive in their approach would say, ‘We think you are not doing well in this area.’ To me that is constructive criticism and as a leader you must accept [it]so that you can improve."
Defending the current office-holders, Peter said many of their problems had been inherited from the previous council.
"Remember that this report you are referring to does not really talk to our term," Peter said. "We came only in June 2011… [but]I am here as the leadership… I am taking that full responsibility and commit that indeed we are going to try and turn things around."
Peter acknowledges it's important for the municipality to regain the trust of the community – particularly when it comes to service-delivery.
"There is a sense that some people are losing trust because as the institution there is no sense of urgency. You report something today; you still have to come back the next day to report the same thing."
"Hence the mayoral walkabouts. Part of that is to listen to the workforce to understand what makes you to take long when responding to the complaints of the public – is there a problem that [they]need assistance with so that we understand."
"We will be visiting all projects again as part of gaining that trust, all projects that are funded by us through Municipal Infrastructure Grant. The objective of these walkabouts is to ensure monitoring so that we don’t compromise quality when it comes to the work done by contractors."
Peter's leadership gained positive acclaim in December, when he led a march against violence against women and children during the 16 days of activism campaign.
"I was leading that because it is my strong belief that we must create a new man. A man that does not rape, a man that does not abuse the rights of women and children… How I wish all of us, from local government level up to national, really focus in making sure that we combat crime at all costs."
"Government will not be able to do it alone, communities must get involved."
Warning that political parties should not try to use crime-statistics to score cheap political points, Peter said, "This is about the lives of people. The sooner we focus on that the better."
